


(Part Of) Another Day In The Life Of Someone Who Might Just Have Feelings And His Droid Who Doesn't Need Fixing

by Nununununu



Series: Just Another Mission (Gone Wrong) [4]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: (series overall), Defending your droid partner from your own side, Don't copy to another site, Droid rights, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feelings, K-2SO makes an unexpected offer, M/M, Mutual Pining, Robot/Human Relationships, Slow Burn, Touching, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22450561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nununununu/pseuds/Nununununu
Summary: It seemed entirely possible Cassian was experiencing some sort of malfunction himself.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/K-2SO
Series: Just Another Mission (Gone Wrong) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592398
Comments: 12
Kudos: 49





	(Part Of) Another Day In The Life Of Someone Who Might Just Have Feelings And His Droid Who Doesn't Need Fixing

**Author's Note:**

> Contains more anti-droid prejudice. Longer instalment (series ongoing).
> 
> Update: slightly edited.

Kay was Acting Strangely.

Ignoring the effort it took to keep from grinding his teeth, Cassian nevertheless swallowed his first three answers and instead explained to the Rebel tech who had stopped him in the corridor to inform him that ‘his’ droid needed fixing that no, he wasn’t K-2SO’s Master; no, he wasn’t about to make decisions on the droid’s behalf when Kay was perfectly capable of making them on his own –

And fuck no, K-2SO didn’t need ‘fixing’ – in any way – and, oh by the way, Cassian would be grateful if people would leave his friend the hell alone.

“Yes sir!”

While Cassian had refrained from saying the last part, judging by the technician’s wide eyes and the haste they departed, the edge to his tone had been more audible than he had intended.

It seemed entirely possible Cassian was experiencing some sort of malfunction himself.

“Captain, a word.”

The measured order that came from the other end of the corridor didn’t come as a surprise – he’d known that the last half minute of the exchange had been witnessed and who by, and that there would be repercussions for it, and yet he’d found he continued speaking regardless.

“General.” It was second nature for Cassian to repress the way his fingers sought to curl inwards, but Draven knew him well enough for it not to matter. The look the other man gave him in response was one of his flatter ones, clearly unimpressed.

“Go on in,” Draven opened the door to his office.

Stepping into the dimly lit room, Cassian was aware he should be feeling more regret about the anticipated dressing down. Rather, he felt a stir of defiance he couldn’t afford and didn’t allow to show in the set of his jaw, declining as ever when Draven indicated a chair.

“You know why I’ve called you in here,” The General said without preamble once he had seated himself on the other side of the table, his gaze steady on Cassian’s face as if he could see all the emotion Cassian had ensured his expression didn’t contain, “Tell me I shouldn’t be concerned.”

“You shouldn’t,” His hands held loosely behind his back, Cassian agreed in full consciousness of the lie.

“So you say,” He got a long look in return, Draven’s own hands resting lightly on the top of the empty table. The whole set-up was familiar, having been played out very similarly many a time before, although previously it had always been Cassian fresh back from his latest mission, listing the details unsuitable for entering into the official report.

He had no idea why this time he should feel so exposed. Draven had heard him confess to all manners of unspeakable things just as imperturbably as he’d given Cassian the orders in the first place.

There was nothing in particular that Cassian _was_ confessing to now, in fact. So why –

“I’ve been paying serious thought to separating the pair of you,” Draven folded his hands together, which meant he wasn’t intending to be moved, “Transferring the droid off-base or permanently into analysis. But he’s proven he can be useful in the field, even if he is a distraction elsewhere.”

“I’m aware,” This was something Cassian refused to be grateful for: that, unlike many, Draven didn’t use ‘it’. His heartbeat was unhelpfully elevated – only minimally, but enough for him to need to control his breathing in a way only Kay and the man in front of him would recognise.

“Mon Mothma has spoken in favour of maintaining the status quo,” Draven gave no indication of his awareness of Cassian’s tension, “It’s undeniable that having an ex-Imperial droid under the Alliance’s control – and K-2SO needs to acknowledge the necessity of _being_ under our control – is to our advantage.”

Cassian knew all of this already and Draven knew that he knew. Which meant –

“The problem is you, Andor,” Draven concluded.

“I agree,” Cassian truly did.

“Whatever – issue – you’re having with the droid,” The other man’s set expression didn’t flicker, but Cassian still easily read the buried distaste, “Work it out. By whatever means. You’re valuable, but more so deep undercover.”

“I’m willing to take on whatever role will best serve the Rebellion,” Cassian had gone under long term before and was prepared for this to become necessary again at any time.

There shouldn’t be any reason why the prospect should make something inside him ache.

“Which is why I’m allowing you this warning,” Draven conceded, for all he remained implacable, “Droid techs exist for a reason and it’s not for you to bite their heads off. I don’t want to keep hearing talk of faulty code; I don’t want to hear talk at all. Get yourself sorted out, Andor, and see to your droid. Take responsibility and fix your property, and I’ll ensure you can retain ownership. If not, you'll find you end up being required to hand him over fully to the Alliance – and we both know how that’s likely to go.”

Anger –

Anger stabbed at Cassian, shockingly deep and hard, so overwhelming he came close to losing control. The only reaction he could possibly have was to simply breathe in. Out again. Keeping it steady and unchanging, even as he hated himself for the tell.

“Acknowledged,” His voice didn’t sound like his own, remote and unfamiliar in a way it hadn’t been even on some of his most difficult missions.

“Don’t make me regret this conversation,” Draven cautioned a touch sourly, even as he nodded, “Dismissed.”

Cassian shut the door noiselessly behind him, his face and body language neutral, his pace no faster than was typical. Yet after he passed them, more than one group of Rebels scattered in his wake and his nails were gouging shamefully into his palms by the time he reached his assigned quarters.

Habitually double checking the lock after entering, he stood in silence with his back to his room for a long moment, staring unseeingly at the door.

“Cassian?” K-2SO was there – of course he was there; Cassian had only gone to return the practice sword and get cleaned up in the shared refreshers after their impromptu training session, and it was around twenty minutes later than he’d expected to get back.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” Cassian concealed a wince at the unbidden roughness to his voice.

There was a short pause in which he was certain he could sense K-2SO scanning him, a metallic click as the droid detached himself from the charging port Cassian had installed back when they were first accustoming themselves to each other’s company, and then there was the sound of Kay taking the three steps necessary to come to a halt directly behind Cassian in the small room.

“That bad, was it?” K-2SO’s vocal output was notably quieter than the norm, the question almost soft.

Cassian couldn’t prevent himself from reacting when his friend’s hand closed lightly over his shoulder, the adrenalin coursing through him in belated response to the anger and fear – he could let himself recognise the latter now – making him tremble. The feeling of Kay’s fingers against his clavicle only eroded his self-control all the further, a great tangle of longing swelling in his chest until it threatened to swamp him.

“No,” He managed, because things could always be worse.

“You mean ‘yes’,” Kay’s tone clearly implied just how much he was rolling his optics, even as the pad of his thumb stroked the back of Cassian’s neck, the slow touch shockingly intimate.

“ _Kay_ –” Cassian had to cut himself off, damningly close to a choke. Sorely tempted to bow his head, it took all of his strength of will to make himself stand motionlessly. Only when the fierce clamour of emotions battering him faded to something he could push through could he make himself turn to face the droid.

Kay was very close. As close as he had been that time on the ship after he had cleaned Cassian’s hands and face. This time Cassian found himself looking up at Kay immediately, his gaze unintentionally searching his friend’s faceplate before he caught himself.

“Cassian,” K-2SO was hunching even more than was usual, his head ducked as if he were consciously trying to make himself appear shorter – or to get even closer, perhaps. And Cassian –

Cassian had no problem with his friend’s height, truly; he never had. It wasn’t annoying in the slightest. He welcomed the faint ache in his neck as he looked up at the droid, his hand twitching by his side like it wanted to rise, to touch Kay in return, and –

Draven’s insinuations came flooding back to him, paired with the knowledge of exactly what the General expected him to do.

Shaking his head, Cassian went to step back and proved himself trapped between his friend and the door, a position he would never tolerate being in with anyone else.

“Kay, I can’t –”

“I think you mean you won’t,” His optics intent on the human’s face, K-2SO sighed.

Cassian could hear the hum of some internal process working; the gentle whir of a fan settling again after his friend’s simulated exhalation. His skin was prickling with the sensation of Kay’s hand still touching him, having slipped off Cassian’s shoulder when he turned, long metal fingers curling now around his upper arm.

“You’re right,” Cassian found he could confess, low, although part of him couldn't help but wonder if they were speaking about different things.

“Of course I am,” Kay had no trouble hearing the murmur. He dipped his optics in his version of a blink, “Although I’m surprised you’d admit it. Should I dare hope you might choose to follow your instincts for once rather than ignoring them, or is that asking too much?”

The familiar dry note to his friend’s tone made Cassian huff in soundless amusement, relaxing to a degree.

“You know what Draven's ordered me to do.” Of course Kay had worked it out. When his hand sought to rise again, Cassian didn’t fight it. Instead he watched his fingers brush against K-2SO’s chestplate, resting above internal workings and, deeper down, the droid’s core.

“I can certainly calculate the odds and come to a highly probable conclusion,” Kay answered in place of verbally doing as much, which was unlike him.

Glancing up at his friend questioningly, Cassian found the droid busy looking down at his hand, small against Kay’s chestplate. Kay then transferred his attention to his own hand on Cassian’s arm, before looking back to Cassian’s hand again, his systems audibly increasing in speed, clearly processing something.

“This is all right,” Although this was voiced as a statement, Cassian knew him more than well enough to know Kay hadn’t projected an answer to a degree of certainty high enough for him to be completely confident of it, but had decided to forge ahead anyway.

“Mm,” Forming his hand into a loose fist, Cassian rapped his knuckles very lightly against smooth metal. Meaning _yes._

“Come and sit down,” Stepping back, K-2SO didn’t let go of Cassian’s shoulder, using the point of contact to steer him towards the narrow bed rather than the room’s single chair.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Cassian did as directed, finding himself unable to unwind enough to do anything like remove his boots or light jacket like he had become accustomed to doing when it was just the two of them, simply folding himself down and perching on the edge of the thin mattress, dropping his hands between his knees and lacing his fingers as a means of diverting some of his lingering tension.

“Here,” K-2SO collected the peripheral device that acted as a manual interface off the tiny desk, the only item it contained aside from the tool kit Cassian used when his friend requested aid with some minor repair.

For all he had never been one for knick-knacks or other paraphernalia, having no desire to evoke memories he would prefer not to revisit, Cassian had never questioned these two additions to what was essentially a blank space, only his cold weather jacket and neatly tidied regulation clothing otherwise to mark it as his own.

Having carefully refused to think about how telling these two items might be, it seemed inescapably obvious now – and impossible not to wonder what Kay made of it.

“Perhaps while you do as ordered,” Dropping the interface onto Cassian’s knees so the human must catch it or let it break, K-2SO said in place of revealing his opinions on the matter, “You could tell me why you said you can’t.”

“I can’t ignore Draven,” This was the truth, if not precisely the answer. Cassian frowned at the interface, barely capable of speaking aloud what he had hardly been able to let himself think, “We both know that. But these orders –”

For Cassian to demand access to Kay’s code, let alone _change_ it –

Fuck no.

“You might like to know that I had a moderately interesting conversation with the General while you were in the refresher,” K-2SO angled himself down next to the bed, arranging his limbs with some precision to fit on the available floorspace, “He wanted to know what you had left out of your report regarding our most recent joint mission.”

“The insectoids –” Cassian shook his head once, “Anything not on the report wasn’t relevant.” He had already spoken with Draven privately about the matter after organising clearance from medical regarding his head injury and requesting the two day solo mission, although he had still omitted certain extraneous details.

“Which is what I informed him,” Kay shrugged, “He then asked a number of highly impertinent questions phrased as commands that I did not feel obliged to respond to, at least not truthfully, and appeared to find the answers I did give frustrating. It was fairly satisfactory, even if it did delay me in completing a task I wished to do promptly.”

“Questions –” _About us_ , Cassian could not say, “What task?”

K-2SO considered him, “I needed to help someone.”

“Who?” Cassian made a gesture of negation immediately, because he knew Kay meant another droid, “No, you don’t need to tell me. Were you able to?”

“Yes, they were able to avoid reprogramming,” Kay’s reply was notably bitter, “I also had time to install a small laser to allow them to better defend themselves in the future. The organic attempting to rip out their wiring called them a _duster_.”

“A _what_?” So it appeared K-2SO had liberated a cleaning droid. Wiping his fingers over his mouth to cover the affection he felt at the thought, Cassian bit his lip after, “You do realise a laser won’t solve their problems for long.”

If the little droid used it, not long at all.

“Of course,” K-2SO simulated a very convincing sniff, “As such I granted them access to our ship in the hangar.”

“Where exactly are you thinking we'll take them?” Cassian took a breath in, staring hard at the interface, “This is why Draven wants me to –”

No. It wasn’t. The problem was still him, as it had been all along, although it was also Kay.

“My actions towards other droids forms only twenty five percent of the reason, if that,” Kay obligingly provided, “I’m not going to stop, Cassian.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Cassian came to the decision he had been avoiding admitting he would all along. “I’m also not going to tamper with your code.”

He _could_ , yes, in that he had the ability – but he wouldn’t. It didn’t matter how Draven might punish him, so long as they could find a way that the consequences wouldn’t affect Kay. He endeavoured to pass the interface back.

“You could actually, in a sense. If you want to,” K-2SO refused to accept it. He had altered his position on the floor to better observe Cassian, and there was something unusually open about his body language – Cassian had the fleeting thought that if he simply slid off the bed, Kay would catch him before he landed in the droid’s lap.

“I –” Cassian was so stymied by this – the thought of settling his knees either side of his friend’s thighs – that he jumped when Kay reached up, not to touch Cassian but to physically open an access hatch. Given that he never bothered to do so usually, merely issuing an internal command, the sight arrested Cassian, the action proving immensely distracting in a way he strove to conceal.

“Here,” Kay repeated, and offered a connecting cable, “Plug me in. You can look.”

Cassian hadn’t seen his friend’s programming since shortly after they’d first met, back when Kay had insisted he undo a few snarls he’d made of the droid’s code. Since then Kay had had sole responsibility, Cassian having signed off on it each time his friend had refused to allow an Alliance technician to examine his systems.

It was possible Draven had a point about him biting their heads off. But being informed that there was something – many things – wrong with his friend seemed to cut through Cassian’s reserve in a way nothing else did.

“'I’m a spy',” He mouthed now, not quite saying the words aloud, a repetition of his defence back when K-2SO had demanded to know why the human had made such a mess on liberating him from the Empire. In truth, Cassian hadn’t freed Kay so much as he’d given him the ability to free _himself –_ Kay had swiftly taken over and done all the rest.

Had the droid chosen to override what had essentially amounted to an offer of emancipation, Cassian had no doubt he’d have done so with ease.

“'Not a droid expert',” Kay completed seamlessly, a touch of humour to his vocabulator, “Stop blaming yourself, Cassian. You didn’t create my personality nor my perceived flaws by fumbling around in my code back then; I did.”

“Good,” Cassian hadn’t realised just quite how obviously his shoulders had stiffened at the thought. He exhaled, repeated, “ _Good_ ,” and narrowed his eyes at the cable, “You’re not flawed.”

Nor was Kay Cassian’s property. The very thought left him nauseated.

“I didn’t say I was,” K-2SO agreed, “Now come on. We only have a limited time remaining before you must pretend to rest and our schedules don’t match again afterwards, as you previously observed.”

“Oh,” Cassian remembered anew that Kay had changed his plans for him, “Damn – yes. I need to give you –”

“Yes, I am excruciatingly curious,” Apparently losing patience, K-2SO reached over the remaining distance to connect the cable to the interface himself, “If that was your objective in informing me earlier that you have something for me and then refusing to identify it, you have succeeded.”

It startled a laugh out of Cassian, “It wasn’t. Sorry.”

“I know,” Kay's arm was long enough that he could simply extend it to graze his fingers against Cassian’s cheek without otherwise moving his body.

“Thanks,” Cassian held himself extremely still under the touch. Then, remembering Kay’s earlier comment, he cautiously allowed himself to bring his own hand up carefully to cover his friend’s.

“ _Cassian_ ,” Kay reacted to this at once, several servos activating, vocabulator interrupted by a fuzz of static.

“Shit, did I –” Concern lancing through him, Cassian jerked his hand away.

“No, it’s –” Kay uncharacteristically fumbled likewise, “You can touch me, Cassian. It _is_ all right, isn’t it? I like it when you do. I like touching you, too.”

“You – you do?” Cassian stared at him, painfully conscious of heat rushing into his face. Kay’s hand was still cupping his cheek, although even without touching him the droid would be able to tell. Scrabbling to hide the extent of his reaction, Cassian dropped his gaze back to the interface, “Why – Is there something I can help with by accessing your code? Is that why you –”

Damn it, he hadn’t faltered this badly in years.

“Kay, are you sure you want me to look?” This was important; Cassian needed to get hold of himself and say it, “I can give you what I've been planning to – now or afterwards. There aren’t any conditions attached.”

“I never thought there were,” Kay’s vocal output was soft, just like the graze of his fingers against Cassian’s cheek – controlled and precise and yet also somehow tentative, like he was waiting for Cassian to pull away.

Cassian was in fact aching to pull him closer. To lean forwards enough that those fingers would slide into his hair; to slide his own arms around the droid’s shoulders. To climb onto Kay’s lap like he’d been imagining.

“I’m not going to pretend there aren’t areas I won’t allow you to access,” Kay continued, which would have definitely resulted in a reprogramming had he said this to anyone else, but only left Cassian relieved, “Still – I think I would like you show you my code. Only you, Cassian.” The slight hum of static was back. “If you would like to see it.”

All of this was nearly enough to undo him. Swallowing with no difficulty, Cassian nodded.

“All right,” His voice came out huskier than he had heard it in years.

“All right,” Kay echoed, as though he understood perfectly that what Cassian meant by this was _please_.


End file.
